Geagea: Bassil Must 'Calm Down and Get Off Our Back'

Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea has blasted Free Patriotic Movement chief and Foreign Minister Jebran Bassil, accusing him of seeking to monopolize administrative appointments.

“Unfortunately, there are some acts by Minister Bassil which we do not accept, be them statements, remarks or actions, such as his attempt to usurp all appointments,” Geagea told al-Joumhouria newspaper.

“We are not trying to get half of the appointments and give him the other half, we are only asking him to abide by the mechanism,” the LF leader added.

Asked whether the LF and the Progressive Socialist Party will quit government if the upcoming administrative and judicial appointments do not satisfy them, Geagea strongly rejected such a hypothesis.

“At this stage, we should not talk about this issue. We must rather think how to more and more support the pillars of the authority and the state,” the LF leader said.

“To us, the appointments are an issue of principles. It is not about getting 10, 3 or 7 seats,” he stressed.

Asked how ties with the FPM can be mended, Geagea said: “Nothing at all requires the presence of tension or the persistence of this tension. Minister Bassil is required to 'calm down and get off our back,' this is what we are only asking for.”